As I was cleaning my freezer this past week I stumbled across a pieces of ginger that I had wrapped up and frozen. Raw, fresh ginger can be quite tough to grate due to the fibers, I find it easiest to grate on a microplane grater when its frozen. As I was contemplating a use for it a decided to do a little research on the health properties of ginger. I knew it was great for digestion, but what else?
Native to Southeastern Asia, ginger was used over 5000 years ago in Chinese medicine and has many health properties.
The oils in ginger cause more digestive enzymes to be produced which helps to neutralize stomach acids and can relive nausea, diarrhea and cramping. It can also aid in digestion and assimilation of nutrients. Ginger is so powerful in reliving nausea that it is used in treating both motion sickness and morning sickness. Ginger can also help reduce inflammation. So it can be used to treat any disease that is caused by inflammations such as arthritis or ulcerative colitis.
Being a warming herb, ginger can help knock out a fever. It can also help relax muscles around the blood vessels and is said to help prevent blood clots from forming. The warming effects make it a natural decongestant as well as an antihistamine, making it the perfect remedy for colds.
Recent studies show that ginger might also have a role in lowering LDL cholesterol because the spice can help reduce the amount of cholesterol that is absorbed. It has also been shown in animal trials to help slow or even prevent cancerous tumor growth.
Gingers healing properties come from it’s volatile oils, gingerols and shogaols, which are also responsible for it’s pungent taste.
To discover the health benefits of ginger for yourself, simply make a tea by steeping about 5 slices of ginger in hot water. If you prefer it in your food, ginger is excellent in many dishes and is perfect when combined with garlic.
For baking, powdered ginger is typically used, but the ground or powdered version isn’t really as good as the fresh. If you want to substitute fresh for ground in your recipes, you’ll want to use 6 parts fresh ginger for 1 part ground ginger.
In history, Ginger was used extensively by the ancient Romans and was later traded in Europe by the Arabs who took the rhizomes on their travels and then planted them in other tropical places such as Zanzibar and Africa. Europeans loved it to flavor drinks but since a pound of ginger cost as much as an entire sheep, it was used sparingly. Today, ginger is a less expensive and grown in many subtropical areas. It’s lovely flowers are so appealing that it is often used in landscaping.
The ginger plant itself, Zingiber officinale, is a perennial, which can grow to about 3 of 4 feet and produces clusters of pink and white flowers. Although the leaves are sometimes eaten, it is the rhizome or underground stem that is of medicinal and culinary interest. This stem is a chunky root-like thing with a thin brown skin and hard light flesh inside. It is often erroneously called ginger root since the rhizome resembles a root but this is actually not the root of the plant at all but an underground “stem”.
Ginger production is actually a fairly simple process. Ginger is propagated by planting a piece of the rhizome which will grow into another plant. It is usually harvested after 5 months, but it really depends on what you want to use the rhizome for. The older a ginger plant becomes, the more essential oils are present and the more pungent is the taste. Younger plants are good for cooking while older ones are generally better for medicinal purposes.
It is only in recent years that ginger has become more valued as a spice than for it’s medicinal properties.
Pieces of the rhizome can be sliced off for use and the remainder stored in the refrigerator where it should keep for about 3 weeks as long as it is not fully peeled. The rhizome can also wrapped and frozen for up to three month, this is how I prefer to store it.
Still I have the dilemma, what to make with it. Something sweet or something savory? Well since I have a camping trip coming up in a few days I decided it might be nice to have some ginger cookies to munch on, so sweet it is. Now to decide which for of ginger to use in the recipe, powdered, fresh, or crystallized (my favorite!). I could choose, so I opted for all three. Below is my recipe for the Ultimate Ginger Cookie; I just wonder if they’ll ease the indigestion of eating too many cookies…
PS. I know it makes a lot of cookies, but they freeze very well!
Ultimate Ginger Cookie
Make 4 1/2 dozen cookies
4 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 tablespoon ground cloves
1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1 tablespoon fresh ginger, finely grated
2 cup dark brown sugar, lightly packed
1/2 cup vegetable oil
2/3 cup unsulfured molasses
2 extra-large eggs, at room temperature
140 g container crystallized ginger, chopped into a 1/4 inch cubes
Granulated sugar, for rolling the cookies
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Prepare two stoneware baking pans or line 2 sheet pans with parchment paper.
In a large bowl, sift together the flour, baking soda, cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg, ginger, and salt and then combine the mixture with your hands. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the brown sugar, oil, fresh ginger, and molasses on medium speed for 5 minutes. Turn the mixer to low speed, add the eggs, and beat for 1 minute. Scrape the bowl with a rubber spatula and beat for 1 more minute. With the mixer still on low, slowly add the dry ingredients to the bowl and mix on medium speed for 2 minutes. Add the crystallized ginger and mix until combined. Don’t over mix
Scoop the dough with a small ice cream scoop, approximately 1-tablespoon capacity. With your hands, roll each cookie into a 1-inch ball and roll in the granulated sugar, then flatten them lightly with your fingers. Place them on the baking pans. Bake for about 15 minutes on stoneware or 8-10 minutes on metal sheet pans. The cookies will be crackled on the top and soft inside. Let the cookies cool on the sheets for 1 to 2 minutes, then transfer to wire racks to cool completely. Cookies will keep in an airtight container for up to one week, or up to one month in the freezer.
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